sobota, 31 sierpnia 2013

Ive accumulated 4 different kinds of doormat, and it was time to change them from place holding junk into battle worthy terrain. I envisioned wheat field in summer, plowed field and young wheat/tall grass. Roads come as an afterthought but went great ! SO here is what i cut today :)
It is built for 15mm in mind but its quite scale free.

Hiour worth of cutting, it was a little messy

Ad hoc test build to try how it work together

This pic show what i need.. Houses !!
And with small additions it soaked blood for the forts time ( story coming soon)

czwartek, 29 sierpnia 2013

Ive been inspired lately after writing review of very interesting book about Slavic raid on Konungahela in 1136 for portal Strategie.net.pl (anything is good as an excuse for not writing PHD i suppose..:)
So here is my first take on the man himself..
Behold dreaded Sǣkonungr ÆWulf
Not sure if this is final, but I like the guy.. there is something in him.. Certain taste of dread without silly skulls and bloodied axes, and his head is very evocative ..

I am not sure how to mount him jet. Either alone and Saemund his horn blower and standard bearer joins this band of hearthguard.

Or at larger base with Saemund and hearthguard will get another bloodthirsty viking hersir

Hmm .. What to do, what to do.
Well apart from painting him. I think i prefer bigger base with Saemund...but not decided yet

poniedziałek, 5 sierpnia 2013

So I got myself two of the hot new Zvezda Hot War sets. Namely T72 B and BTR80. Both models usable both as modern vehicles, and as some ultra tech AK47/AFrican vehicles (T55 and BTR60 would be better but these pass as 90 ties 20000s African wars) and due to quite modern looks they both could pass for Sci fi (with or without modifications) vehicles.

So to the models.
In the box we got two sprues each, manual, game stats for Zvezda inhouse boardgame and surprisingly small decal sheets with a lot of numerals (BTRs numerals are smaller in size - overall this bit could be quite usefully - numerals are single numbers so caution is advised). Models are well laid but one have to realise that there is space on the sprue for some extra stuff. Some fueld tanks, boxes or webbing that PSC spoiled us with ;/ Missed opportunity here. But otherwise models are slod and build easily. There is only one fiddly part on the BTR. But i have to complement BTRs undercarriage. Zvezda wheeled WWII vehicles had very delicate - scale model undercarriages that could be easily damaged during the game. BTR have very simple and solid wheel mounts and should survive a lot (his weak point is gun ) so thats a improvement !!
Whats I don't like is that all the details of ERA are cast on T72 turret. If Era were optional parts sast separately (there is some space on the sprue !) models would be much better and versatile.

Models build very easily and seamless, although T72 frame is bit quirky.. It builds well its just very weird construction decision on the creators side. Well .. its Russian after all :)
Overall I rate this models at A- T72 and B+ BTR (It looks smaller than it should IMHO )
They build great and are very nice with solid details, but could be little improved.. And misleading box art and lack of any extras looks a little rushed. Few details could be improved (and p[rice a little reduced !)
But in the end I got two great models !!Modele budują się dobrze i bez kłopotów. Nie ma problemu ze spasowaniem i składają się bez kleju perfekcyjnie (zero szpar jeśli tylko dobrze wytnie się je z wyprasek). Jedyna uwaga to to że rama w środku kadłuba T72 to przedziwny pomysł konstrukcyjny.. Samonośny kadłub byłby solidniejszy. Cóż powiedzieć.. Rosjanie.. :)Ogólnie oceniam modele na 5- (T72) i 4+ (BTR)To świetne modele ale kilka rzeczy można by zrobić lepiej (i taniej..)